1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of connectors, and, more particularly, connectors for joining containers to enteral administration sets to provide enteral nutrition.
2. Discussion of the Art
In many areas of patient care, containers of fluids must be connected to enteral administration sets in order to deliver fluids to provide enteral nutrition. There are many types of containers for these fluids. For example, the following types of containers can be used to deliver enteral nutritional feed: glass bottle having 40 mm diameter mouth, plastic bottles having 40 mm diameter mouth, crown cap bottles, and flexible pouches. It is desirable for a given type of connector to be able to be used with more than one type of container.
European Patent No. 0 344 070 B1 discloses a device for connecting an enteral nutrition tube to a nutrient composition container. This device comprises a perforator end piece.
European Patent No. 0 355 795 B1 discloses an adapter for the selective connection of enteral transfer appliances to one each of different bottles whose necks have smaller or greater opening diameters, comprising at least two caps which are disposed coaxially, oriented in the same direction, and have different diameters. One of the caps is rotatable with respect to the other one about a common axis of the caps, while the other cap does not carry out any rotation.
European Patent No. 0 711 538 B1 discloses a universal bottle closure made from thermoplastic material for the random connection of enteral transfer devices to in each case one of numerous bottles, whose necks have a smaller or larger opening diameter. The closure has two caps, which are arranged coaxially with their opening pointing in the same direction and have different opening diameters for forming an annular space, characterized in that the inner cap is made from softer thermoplastic material than the outer cap. The two caps are permanently interconnected and the inner cap has an inwardly projecting sealing flange, constructed for engaging on the sealing face of the smaller diameter bottle, and an outwardly projecting sealing flange, constructed for engagement on the sealing face of the larger diameter bottle.
European patent No. 0 930 056 A2 discloses a universal connector designed for use in various containers having a fluid port for access to the content of the container or for transferring fluid into the container. The universal connector incorporates an elastomeric membrane capable of being ruptured by an access means such as a luer connector or a syringe having a sharp or blunt cannula for fluid communication between the content of the container and the access means.
None of the foregoing connectors is able to connect the major types of containers in use today, such as, for example, (1) glass bottles having a mouth having a diameter of approximately 40 mm, (2) ready-to-hang bottles having a mouth having a diameter of approximately 40 mm, (3) crown cap bottles having a mouth having a diameter of approximately 26 mm, and (4) flexible pouches having a mouth having a diameter of approximately 12.5 mm. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a connector that can be used to connect all major varieties of feed containers, which containers have mouths having different diameters, to enteral administration sets.